Livestock Department

The team

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Area of competence

Animal Welfare and Product Quality

The XXIst century consumer wants quality, organoleptic and sanitary products, derived from animals bred in conditions which respect their physiological and physical needs. The quest for sens, ethical consciousness, lead to an increasingly pressing demande for the respect of animal welfare. The breeder often experiences this demand as an accusation, a social, political and statutory pressure which is added to increasing financial preoccupations.

At the same time, the economical constraints limit the consumer's buying power and leed him to restrain his consumption and make the price a majour element in the purchase decision making process. The risk of contradiction between these aspirations and constraints is very high.

To respond to these challenges, we decided to orient our research projects according to four axes :

• Identify reliable stress indicators that are applicable in breeding farms: this aims at regularly following-up on the animals state, but also at evaluating strategies, materials and products recommended in the management of the living conditions of the various reared species.
• Measure the impact of the different behavioural constraints placed upon the production animals and more particularly that of attachment alterations and of socialisation.
• Finalize adaptation protocols of the farming conditions taking into account the ethological needs of the species, that are compatible with the social and economical constraints of the channels.
• Evaluate the impact of stress and of the stress management methods, on the quality of the product. Our works take into account the organoleptic but also sanitary quality of productions of animal origins (bacteriology and residu content).

Pheromones and the attachement bond – applications in stress management

Attachement is a process which is increasingly studied. This bond which occurs between the mother and her offspring, and of which the implications concern both animal physiology and behaviour, plays an important role in the sensitivity to stress and adaptability of the animals. During the development of the attachment bond, a period which corresponds to the fews hours or few days following the birth, the mother and her offspring emit chemical signals (pheromones) which will allow mutual recognition, reassure each of the partners of this interaction and stimulate the search for contact.

We developped protocols for sampling and analysing these signals and we managed to reproduce these pheromones. The objective of our works, in the continuation of our implication in animal welfare, consists in evaluationg the interest of synthetic maternal pheromones in the prevention and management of the stress in reared species.

Semiochemistry and reproduction management

The control of reproduction is a major stake in modern farming. For a long time, the only methods used implied the use of natural or synthetic hormone administration. The progress accomplished thanks to these techniques has been payed at a price which seems unacceptable today: the presence of residue having an impact on human health, freeing of actif metabolites in the animals' faeces, with preocupying consequences on the environment and the animal and human populations. This approach is no longer tolerated; it is compatible neither with modern requirements in terms of public health or sustainable development.

The livestock department of the Research Institute in Semiochemistry and Applied Ethology works on a different approach. The animals' sexuality is notably regulated by the emission of chemical signals (semiochemicals) which will have an impact on the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. By better understanding the method by which these messages are emitted, by identifying the emitting bodily zones, we can sample these messages and analyse them. The developpment of synthetic analogues makes it possible to envisage a new approach to reproduction control, mimiking the natural regulations and exempt of residu in foods of animal origin or polluting emissions.

The Research Institute in Semiochemistry and Applied Ethology's livestock department's philosophy: an understanding of the animal's fundamental needs and an understanding of its communication methods, for quality optimised production, respectful of men, animals and the environment.

Semiochemicals identified

Stress management

In mammals

The major mammals bred in the agricultural domain have been the subject of studies within our Research Institute and we have, by this means, identified several apeasing pheromones from secretions sampled on the breast area of females having given birth a few days prior.

In the porcine channel, we have identified the Pig Appeasing Pheromone (PAP), which allows the reduction of the animals' stress during weaning, batching or transport.

For the bovine channel, the Bovine Appeasing Pheromone (BAP) can enhance the transport conditions, the entrance of calves in the fattenning area and the first drinks from a bucket.

In the ovine channel, the Sheep Appeasing Pheromone (SAP) enhances the weaning and transport conditions.

For the rabbit breeding channel, we have indentified the Rabbit Appeasing Pheromone (RAP). This appeasing pheromone lead to the development of Lapezil, a diffuser bloc which permits, when it is placed in maternity units of rabbit breeding farms, the regulation of emotiveness during the final stages of gestation and childbirth.

Lapezil recieved a special distinction from the Innov'Space and was the winner of the Cuninov prize in 2007.

In birds

Our studies were first carried out on the hen. We put into light, in the mothering hen (taking care of her chicks), a semiochemical called MHUS (Mother Hen Uropygial Secretion), secreted by the uropygial gland area, which plays a majour role in the attachement bond between the hen and her chicks and reduces the chicks' level of stress as well as the adults. This semiochemical lead to the ellaboration of AviZen, a bloc diffuser which is placed in the poultry farms and improves the growth curve and can also reduce certain types of beeking. AviZen was rewarded by the Innov'Space prize in 2009.

It is commercialized by Odors laboratory.

Parasitosis control

The red mite (Dermanyssus gallinae) is a hematophagus mite that parasitizes the domestic hen and infests numerous poultry farms.

We identified, in the duck's uropygial gland, a semiochemical (called DDRA, for Duck Dermanyssus Repellent Allomone)  which, when it is diffused in the rearing hens building, leads to a host confusion (the Dermanysus being informed of the presence of ducks instead of the presence of hens) and, consequently, a disorganization of the colonies and a decline of the parasite population.

Our research on semiochemicals has lead to the elaboration of a treatment solution, commercialized by Véto-Pharma under the name Wakumo.

Fundamental research

To better comprehend the fundamental and behavioural mechanisms that are put into action by the various pheromones that we study, several projects are the subject of university works within the framework of third cycle theses.

To achievement the development of AviZen, we dedicated several years of research to the properties of the odorant message emitted by the mothering hen, materialized by the obtaining of a thesis issued by the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse. You may consult this thesis in its entirity by clicking on the following link : Effects of the semiochemical MHUSA (Mother Hens’ Uropygial Secretion Analogue) on the stress of broilers. Zootechnical, physiological and behavioural approach."

Currently, we are cunducting several trials to clarify the process undergone by the sexual pheromones that the rams secrete and that trigger the ewes' ovarian cycle.

These works are also part of university works and will be finalized by the obtaining of a thesis.

Bibliography

On the PAP, for the pig

• Functional caracterisation of the proteins binding the odorant molecules, for the appeasing componants and molecular cloning the vomero-nasal organ of the prepubescent pig.
• The pig appeasing pheromone (PAP) : Effects on behaviour and growth performances.
• The synthetic maternal pheromone increases food intake and weight gain in the pig at the post-weaning stage.

On the BAP, for the calf and grazing calves

• Evaluation of the effect of the bovine appeasing pheromone on the calf.
• Effects of the bovine appeasing pheromone on growth performances of grazing calves.

On the RAP, for the rabbit

• Pheromones in rabbits : preliminary technical results from utilisation in farms, in France.

On the MHUS, for the chick and the broiler

• Influence of a semiochemical analogue on growth performances and on the meat quality of broilers.
• Influence of a uropygial gland secretion on label broilers growth and meat quality .
• Influence of a maternal odor on the adaptation strategies of chicks facing isolation and novelty during the course of a standardized test
• Are thirty five days sufficient in order to observe the effects in stress reduction of a semiochemical analogue on chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) in high density farms ?
• Broilers (Gallus gallus) are less stressed if they can smell a maternal odor.
• Effects of a semiochemical on the consumption index and other related indicators, for rapid growth broilers bred 42 days.
• Chemical communication in birds: recent discoveries